Throughout this application, various references are referred to. Disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference into this application to more fully describe the state of the art to which this invention pertains.
The locking mechanisms employed or used by most existing pump espresso or steam espresso machines are not very user friendly. It is very cumbersome for the user to locate and attach the filter holder unit into the locking mechanism on the brewing head unit of a coffee machine. As a rule, the filter holder units which have so far been in common use for espresso machines have a brewing tray which is provided with a radially projecting handle and has inserted there into a pot-shaped filter insert. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,962. With such design, the user would need to put the coffee ground into the stainless steel filter then place or insert the filter into the filter holder. Next, the user would need to find the fitting slot on the brewing head unit, attach the filter unit to the brewing head unit, and turn the filter unit to lock the filter unit onto the brewing head unit. Frequently, the user spends a lot of time attempting to locate the locking position on the brewing head unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,490,966 relates to a device for extracting the contents in a capsule consisting of two independent and identical clamping elements, enclosing a housing for a coffee capsule. The present invention relates to a simpler mechanism for locking the filter holder comprising a lower brewing head section fixedly attached to the brewing head unit and a housing which can be adapted to receive various types filter holders and/or capsules.
Moreover, traditional pump espresso and steam espresso machine uses either a boiler or a thermal block heating system which is mounted on top of the brewing head or shower and locking mechanism. With this design, the hot water from the heating system would flow directly to the filter.
The drawback to the previous designs of mounting the boiler or the thermal block heating system on the brewing head unit is that the placement of the locking mechanism is limited by this design. The limitations/drawbacks of the placing the heating system on top of the brewing head unit include:    1. The weight of the heating system on the top will increase the force required to open the brewing head, which is not user friendly.    2. When the heating system is fixed on top of the brewing head unit, it creates a constraint on the design of the locking mechanism. In the present invention, the filter holder (movable part) is placed on the bottom. Also, in the present invention, the movable part is on the top and the fixed part is located on the bottom, so the user can slide in or swing in the filter holder unit into the brewing head unit visually.
The present invention relates to the design of a brewing head unit of a coffee machine which has a cabinet filter holder and a boiler or heating system which is not placed on the top of the brew head unit. Another aspect of the invention, the boiler or the heating system as described above is separated from the brewing head unit. In a further aspect of the invention, the boiler or the heating system can be placed side by side with the brewing head locking mechanism.
The boiler and brew head of the invention are operatively connected by a Teflon hose. The primary advantages of having a boiler or heating system which is separate from the brewing heat unit is that the brew head unit does not have to carry the weight of the boiler so that the design of the locking mechanism is more flexible, versatile and/or dynamic.
It is another object of the present invention to take away from the user all the hassles of inserting the filter holder into the brewing head unit. The present invention relates to a new design which uses easy to fit cabinet design to act as the filter holder. The user has a very simple task to perform, namely to fit the filter into the filter holder visually. There is no longer any need for the user to search blindly for the locking position. This cabinet design concept can be applied to all types of pressurized espresso machines. There are at least 5 ways to place the cabinets into the machines and they can be performed as follows:    1. Slide the cabinet filter holder into the brewing head unit from the front;    2. Slide the cabinet filter holder into the brewing head unit from the sides;    3. Slide the cabinet filter holder into the brewing head unit from the rear;    4. Swing the cabinet filter holder in or out about a pivot fixed to the brewing head unit; or    5. Insert the cabinet filter holder into the brewing head unit from the top.
In another aspect of the invention, a motor is used to operate the locking mechanism and the cabinet filter holder without any manual intervention so that the entire movement of the cabinet filter holder unit would require less effort and be more convenient for the user. In a further aspect of the invention, the movement of the cabinet is provided by a motor which is operated by a remote control.
Table 1 below summarizes the key differences between the filter holder mechanism according to the existing state of the art and claimed cabinet filter holder of the present invention.
TABLE 1DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE FILTER HOLDER MECHANISMACCORDING TO THE EXISTING STATE OF THE ARTAND CLAIMED CABINET FILTER HOLDERExisting pressurizedfilter holderCabinet filtermechanismholder mechanismBoiler orIt needs to be on topThe boiler or thermalthermal blockof the brew head andblock does not haveabove the filterto be on the top ofholderthe brew head.It can even be placedside by side with thelocking mechanism.Filter holderThe user would firstThe new cabinet canfittingneed to search itbe slide in from theblindly and then wouldfront, side or rear,need to lock the holderor swing out orin place by turning itinserted from thefrom left to right ortop. The movement ofright to left.the cabinet can beautomated by a motorto drive/control themovement. The saidmotor can be operatedby remote control.Way to place ofSearch blindlyDirect/immediatelythe filtervisibleholder in placeLocking methodLock by swing fit ofRotate to Lock systemthe filter holder.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the present invention are illustrative of those that can be achieved by the present invention and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variation which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel methods, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.